(SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt) — The world should confront climate change the way it does nuclear weapons, by agreeing to a non-proliferation treaty that stops further production of fossil fuels, a small island nation leader proposed Tuesday as vulnerable nations pushed for more action and money at international climate talks.
“We all know that the leading cause of climate crisis is fossil fuels,” Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano told his fellow leaders. So his country has “joined Vanuatu and other nations calling for a fossil fuels non-proliferation treaty… It’s getting too hot and there is very (little) time to slow and reverse the increasing temperature. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize fast acting strategies that avoids the most warming.”
Vanuatu and Tuvalu, along with other vulnerable nations, have been flexing their moral authority in negotiations, especially in light of mega climate disasters. The idea of a non-proliferation treaty for coal, oil and natural gas has been advanced by churches, including the Vatican, and some scientists, but Natano’s speech gives it a bigger boost in front of a global audience.
A year ago at climate talks in Glasgow, a proposal to call for a “phase out” coal — the dirtiest of the fossil fuels — was changed at the last minute to “phase down” by a demand from India, earning the wrath of small island nations and some vulnerable countries.
Read more: ‘Loss and Damages’ Will Be a Huge Focus of COP27. Here’s What That Means
Small island nation leaders also called for a global tax on the profits of fossil fuel corporations that are making billions of dollars of profit a day during a global energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“While they are profiting the planet is burning,” said Gaston Browne,…
Source : time
